Nurturing early childhood development in times of austerity in BC

Early childhood development plays a critical role in a person’s health and welfare throughout their life, affecting everything from scholastic success to employment to physical health. This translates to significant consequences for the economy: It’s estimated that every new dollar invested in programs that support healthy childhood development (e.g., parental leave, income support, child care) returns $6 to the GDP over a child’s lifetime. Unfortunately, Canada has the weakest public funding for early childhood development among wealthy countries. The consequences of this lack of investment can be seen in the state of early childhood development in British Columbia.This paper makes recommendations to improve early childhood development outcomes using strategies at the federal, provincial and local levels.